Full Year Calendar
Use these links to easily navigate throught the calendar below:
| September | October | November | January | February | March | April | May | June |
Spring Quarter
Talk Forward: The Importance of Representation in Healthcare and the Arts
April 2, 3:00 - 6:30pm | Steppenwolf Theatre 1650 North Halsted Street Chicago, IL
How Blood Go weaves the present and past together to explore the strained relationship between the medicine and African Americans in this country. Just when Quinntasia is ready to take her wellness program, Quinntessentials, to market, she learns that her healthy body is not the product of her hard work, but of a futuristic experimental device—activated without her consent—that makes her appear White to doctors and nurses. She must decide if she’s willing to give up her Blackness to make her dream come true. Meanwhile, Bean and his brother, Ace, experience unethical medical treatment in the American South (the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment 1930-1970).
Burge & Beyond:The Continued Fight for Reparations
April 8, 11:00 am-3:30 pm (lunch included!) | 6337 S Woodlawn Ave, Chicago
NU in Chicago’s spring 2023 trip invites students to learn more about Chicago’s history of police torture and the fight for reparations and justice for the survivors of this torture. Participants will have the opportunity to tour the Chicago Torture Justice Center and hear from a panel of police torture survivors and Torture Justice Center staff. The event will be facilitated by Dr. Patricia Nguyen, PhD alum of NU and current Assistant Professor in American Studies at the University of Virginia. Dr. Nguyen is the designer of the forthcoming Chicago Torture Justice Memorial, a commemoration of this shameful chapter in the city’s history. The trip is free to students and includes transportation and lunch.
This event is co-sponsored by NU in Chicago (at the Center for Civic Engagement) and One Book One Northwestern. Register here!
Reception for Rethinking Chicago's Historic Monuments
April 12, 4:00pm | One South main library
History is the story of the past, using all the available facts, and that nostalgia is a fantasy about the past using no facts, and somewhere in between is memory. In “How the Word is Passed”, Clint Smith encourages us to be critical of the stories that inundate our lives. The storymap explains some of the narratives embedded in these monuments to encourage visitors to take a more active, thoughtful engagement in the monuments.’ meanings, both obvious and hidden.
Northwestern NAISA Second Annual Spring Pow Wow Invitation
April 22, 11am - 5pm | Welsh Ryan Arena, 2705 Ashland Ave. Ev.
The Hinterland Strikes Back: Teaching local histories of settler colonialism at Northwestern.
April 25, catered lunch starts at 12:00 Workshop begins at 12:30, event concludes at 2:00pm | Harris 108
Please join us for a workshop with Hope McCaffrey and Heather Menefee, PhD candidates in History. Does it matter where our classrooms are? Northwestern University acknowledges that it is located on Indigenous homelands, but how can we investigate and interpret our location in the classroom? This workshop offers a survey of existing scholarship and resources for historically-informed and locally-situated teaching practices. Focusing on Northwestern University, we will present materials that can ground lectures and conversations in the geographic, material, political, and economic history of settler colonialism where we work.
Sponsored by: Nicholas D. Chabraja for Historical Studies
Reading William Still’s "Underground Rail Road: Black Bibliography and the History of the Book Now.”
April 25, 4:30 p.m. (reception to follow) | HARRIS HALL 108 (Leopold Room), 1881 Sheridan Rd., Evanston campus.
Derrick R. Spires (Cornell University), author of The Practice of Citizenship: Black Politics and Print Culture in the Early United States (2019) will discuss William Still’s book Underground Rail Road: Black Bibliography and the History of the Book Now.
Sponsored by: Nicholas D. Chabraja Center for Historical Studies (CCHS) and University Libraries
Why don’t white parents talk to their children about race?
April 26, 7:00 - 8:00pm | HARRIS HALL 108 , 1881 Sheridan Rd., Evanston campus.
Though many White parents in the U.S. believe that racism is still a problem, it can be difficult for them to talk about race with their children. In this talk Sylvia Perry, Associate Professor of Psychology at Northwestern will discuss her research on why egalitarian-minded White U.S. parents avoid discussing race and racism with their children. Professor Perry will also present suggestions for how White parents can have honest discussions with their children about race and racism.
Sponsored by: One Book One Northwestern, Center for Civic Engagement, School of Education & Social Policy, Institute for Policy Research, Department of Psychology
Join with your community to Unite Against Racism
April 27, 10:30am | 1215 Church Street Evanston, IL 60201
We encourage you to "Unite Against Racism" by raising awareness about the impacts of racism, building community, and taking action within your spheres of influence. Gather with your neighbors and community leaders to encourage and support each other to do the work necessary to become anti-racist communities. At each location, after we gather and share a pledge to continue the work, you are invited to come inside and be part of a discussion with others.
Sponsored by: YWCA
“How the Word is Passed:” Online Collection Talk
April 27, 12:30- 1PM | Zoom webinar
Join Block Museum curatorial staff for a talk considering works from the Block’s collection that reckon with the history of slavery, white supremacy, symbols of nationhood, and social inequity.
Register here
Sponsored by: Block Museum of Art in partnership with The Alumnae of Northwestern University
Film screening of Descendant and talk back with Director Margaret Brown and Co-Producer Kern Jackson
April 27, 5:00 - 8:00 pm | Block cinema, 40 Arts Circle Dr. Evanston
The documentary Descendant, follows members of Africatown, a small community in Alabama, as they share their personal stories and community history as descendants of the Clotilda, the last known slave ship to illegally transport human beings as cargo from Africa to America. The ship's existence, a centuries-old open secret, is confirmed by a team of marine archeologists. Margaret Brown and co-producer Kern Jackson will have a talkback with Professor Kate Masur after the screening.
Sponsored by: One Book, Department of AF/AM Studies, Department of Anthropology, Chabraja Center for Historical Studies, Program in Documentary Media, Department of History, Alice Kaplan Institute for Humanities, Program in Latin American & Caribbean Studies, and Department of Radio/TV/Film
The Art of Ethics and Collaboration: A Master Class with Documentarian Margaret Brown and Dr. Kern Jackson
April 28, 10:00 to 11:30am | Block Museum of Art (Cinema), 40 Arts Circle, Evanston
In this master class, documentary film director Margaret Brown and Kern Jackson, Director of the African American Studies Program at University of South Alabama, talk about their frequent collaboration over the years, from their initial meeting on Brown’s documentary Order of Myths to the current Netflix released Descendant, about the journey of descendants of the enslaved Africans from an illegal ship that arrived in Alabama in 1860 as they seek justice and healing when the craft’s remains are discovered. Class participants can ask questions about the art, craft and ethical considerations of collaborative filmmaking.
RSVP here.
Sponsored by: One Book One Northwestern, Department of Black Studies, Department of Anthropology, Chabraja Center for Historical Studies, Program in Documentary Media, Department of History, Alice Kaplan Institute for Humanities, Program in Latin American & Caribbean Studies, and Department of Radio/TV/Film
MEXODUS
April 28-19, 7:30-9:00 p.m. | Wirtz Center Theater/Room 203, 710 N. Lake Shore Drive
Mexodus is a new musical work by Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson inspired by the estimated 4,000-10,000 enslaved people in the Southern part of the United States who found new lives in Mexico instead moving to the northern United States.
Register here
Sponsored by: Virginia Wadsworth Wirtz Center for Performing and Media Arts, The Wirtz Theater, Chicago Campus
The LEON FORREST Lecture Series - Farah Jasmine Griffin: A Sense of Simple Presence: An Aesthetic and Ethic of Black Life
May 3, 4:00-5:00 PM | Alice Millar Chapel, 1870 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208
Professor Farah Jasmine Griffin is the William B. Ransford Professor of English and Comparative Literature at African American Studies at Columbia University. She is the author or editor of eight books. She collaborated with composer, pianist, Geri Allen and director, actor S. Epatha Merkerson on two theatrical projects, for which she wrote the book: The first, Geri Allen and Friends Celebrate the Great Jazz Women of the Apollo, with Lizz Wright, Dianne Reeves, Teri Lyne Carrington and others, premiered on the main stage of the Apollo Theater in May of 2013. The second, A Conversation with Mary Lou featuring vocalist Carmen Lundy, premiered at Harlem Stage in March 2014 and was performed at The John F. Kennedy Center in May of 2016. Griffin was also the 2021 Guggenheim Fellow and Mellon Foundation Fellow in Residence.
Sponsored by: Department of African American Studies, and Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences.
Annual intergenerational storytelling event
May 9, 5:00 - 7:00PM | Norris (Northwestern Room), 1999 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208
This special interactive storytelling event between senior adults and young adults will be fun, non-intimidating, and something you’ll be talking about for years to come. Come and share your story or listen to the stories of others.
Register here. For more information go to www.northwestern.edu/onebook.
Sponsored by: One Book One Northwestern, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, and the Northwestern Theatre Department
Levys of Monticello
May 17, 5-7:30 PM | Trienens Forum (Kresge 1515), 1880 Campus Drive
“The Levys of Monticello” is a documentary film that tells the little-known story of the Levy family, which owned and carefully preserved Monticello for nearly a century – far longer than Jefferson or his descendants. The remarkable story of the Levy family also intersects with the rise of antisemitism that runs throughout the course of American history. This short documentary will be followed by a discussion with Leslie Harris, professor of history and Daniel Greene, adjunct professor of history at Northwestern and film director Steve Pressman. Refreshments will be provided.
Please note: This is a free event, but registration is required. Due to security, the doors for Kresge are locked. Please bring your wildcard to open the door. We will have someone at the outside door to allow registered guests inside from 4:45 pm until 5:15.
RSVP here. Find more info here.
Sponsored by: One Book One Northwestern, Department of Black Studies, Chabraja Center for Historical Studies, Department of History, and Hillel
Telling the Untold Stories: The Importance of Black Ancestry in American History - Featuring Rachel Jamison Webster, Robert Lett, and Dino Robinson. Moderated by Christine Sneed
May 18, Noon CT | Online – FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, but registration is required
Hosted by the MA in Writing and MFA in Prose and Poetry Programs housed in NU’s School of Professional Studies.
In this online One Book, One Northwestern event, Northwestern University professor Rachel Jamison Webster and her cousin and collaborator, Robert Lett, will discuss Webster's recently published book, Benjamin Banneker and Us: Eleven Generations of an American Family. They will be in conversation with Christine Sneed, faculty director of the School of Professional Studies' graduate creative writing program, and Dino Robinson, Founder of the Shorefront Legacy Center for Black History. In her book, Rachel talks with Robert and other cousins, all of whom are descendants of Benjamin Banneker, the Revolutionary era clockmaker, surveyor, and astronomer. Banneker was the author of bestselling almanacs in his lifetime, and corresponded with Thomas Jefferson, imploring him to eradicate slavery in a country devoted to liberty. Benjamin Banneker and Us is much like Clint Smith's How the Word is Passed in that it is structured as a personal quest to examine how history is told, and to memorialize Black ancestors and figures who have been excluded. Both books are prodded forward through conversation with others. In writing her book, Webster interspersed documentary and oral histories from her family with contextual historical research. Dino Robinson will talk about the importance of oral histories in African American families and the work of the Shorefront Legacy Center.
Sponsored by: One Book One Northwestern and Northwestern School of Professional Studies (MA in Writing and MFA in Prose and Poetry Programs)
Underground Railroad Game
May 18-20, various times | The Wirtz Theater, Chicago Campus (710 N. Lake Shore Drive)
Good morning, America! Welcome to Hanover Middle School, where a pair of teachers are getting down and dirty with today’s lesson. The nimble duo goes round after round on the mat of our nation’s history, tackling race, sex, and power in this R-rated, kaleidoscopic, and fearless comedy.
Register here.
Sponsored by: Wirtz Theater
Winter Recurring
One Book One Northwestern 2022–23: How the Word Is Passed
2022 - 23 Academic Year | Block Museum of Art online gallery.
This selection of artworks from The Block’s collection adds to the conversation by highlighting artists who use different strategies to reckon with the history of slavery, white supremacy, symbols of nationhood, and social inequity.
Sponsored by: The Block Museum of Art
POV: Let The Little Light Shine
Month of January 2023 | now streaming on PBS
National Teachers Academy (NTA) is considered a beacon for Black children: a top-ranked, high-performing elementary school in the fastest growing neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. As the neighborhood gentrifies, a wealthy parents’ group seeks to close NTA and replace it with a high school campus. How will NTA's community fight to save their beloved institution?
Sponsored by: PBS and WTTW
Radiant Compositions II
January 12 - March 4 | Dittmar Gallery, Norris Center
Quilting has long been recognized as an important facet of American history, and individual quilts have been sought out as important historical documents. Quilters Dr. Tracy L. Vaughn-Manley and Sister Quilters: Betty Joy Bonds and Melissa Blounta will have their quilts on exhibit. The lush quilts featured in this exhibition represent the resilience and progress of Black Americans and particularly Black women. The beauty of these quilts pay homage to their domestic, traditional, utilitarian roots, while at the same time displaying the expressions of enduring artistic themes: the beauty of spontaneity, the energy of motion, the importance of remembrance and the imaginative use of color. More information.
Sponsored by: Dittmar Gallery
No Rest: The Epidemic of Stolen Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2Spirits
Opens January 12 | The Mitchell Museum of American Indian, 3001 Central Street Evanston
The Mitchell Museum of American Indian will debut a thought-provoking traveling exhibit, No Rest: The Epidemic of Stolen Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2Spirits, to remember, honor, and illuminate through art and activism the plight of countless Native individuals who go missing or are murdered each year.
The opening reception will take place on January 12, 2023, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Sponsored by: The Mitchell Museum of American Indian
Winter Quarter
Radiant Compositions II (Opening Reception): Dr. Tracy L. Vaughn-Manley and Sister Quilters, Betty Joy Bonds and Melissa Blount
January 12, 6:00-8:00 pm | Dittmar Gallery, Norris Center
Opening Reception: Come and Meet the Quilters!
Quilting has long been recognized as an important facet of American history and individual quilts have been sought out as important historical documents. The lush quilts featured in this exhibition represent the resilience and progress of Black Americans in general and particularly Black women. The beauty of these quilts pay homage to their domestic, traditional, utilitarian roots, while at the same time display the expressions of enduring artistic themes: the beauty of spontaneity; the energy of motion; the importance of remembrance and the imaginative use of color.
Sponsored by: Dittmar Gallery
Evanston's Living History: The Fight to Escape Racial Discrimination
January 12, 7-8 PM (CST) | online
"Between 1910 and 1920, roughly 6,000 people moved to Evanston from Abbeville, South Carolina. Among them were family members of a prominent Abbeville resident, Anthony Crawford (c. 1865-1916). Join us for a presentation by filmmaker Craig Dudnick whose film ""Evanston Living History: The Fight to Escape Racial Discrimination" examines the story behind this migration and its reverberations over the decades.
Learn more, register for this free event, and see how to view Craig Dudnick's film, "Evanston's Living History: The Fight to Escape Racial Discrimination," on our website.
Sponsored by: Evanston History Center (225 Greenwood Street, Evanston, IL)
Independent Lens: The Big Payback
January 16, 10:00 PM | STREAM: Live, Online, or via the PBS Video app
This film reveals how Robin Rue Simmons , a rookie alderwoman in Evanston led the passage of the first tax-funded reparations bill for Black Americans while a national, racial crisis engulfed the country. Will the debt ever be addressed, or is it too late to finally secure the big payback?
Sponsored by: PBS, WTTW
Community On Site: Performing the Past and the Present
January 18, 6:00 PM | Wirtz Theater, Room 203, Abbott Hall, 710 N. Lakeshore Dr. Chicago Campus
A conversation about building community and excavating the past through site-specific and site-responsive performance. Join Northwestern Assistant Professor Cristal Chanelle Truscott, Albany Park Theatre Artistic Director David Feiner, Meida McNeal, Artistic and Managing Director of Honey Pot Performance and company members of Chicago’s Collaboration Theatre Company for a conversation about the practice and process of building work for and with communities in the spaces that contain their histories.
Free event. Registration required.
Images Commemorating History: A Visual Storytelling Contest 2023
Opening January 23 | Main library, 1970 Campus Drive, 1 South
Come visit the One Book photo contest exhibit. Connecting with the themes of this year's One Book selection, How the Word is Passed, A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith.
Sponsored by: One Book
Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History Field Trip
January 21, 10:00 AM - 2:45 PM | Bus pickup at Foster Walker, 1927 Orrington Ave, the side entrance by the parking lot. (only open to NU undergrads)
Undergraduate students are invited for a free visit to Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History. The museum boasts a large collection and visitors will be able to access a recently added section Native Truths: Our Voices Our Stories. Northwestern Professor Doug Kiel, will talk about the development of the new exhibit and join the group for lunch. Day includes transportation, museum ticket, lunch, and presentation at the museum. For more information, follow @SOA_NU on Instagram. Sign-ups are limited to first come first serve, though we expect to have some openings at the bus loading for those on a standby list.
Sponsored by: Student Organizations & Activities and One Book
Sherrilyn Ifill, MLK Commemoration 2023 Keynote Speaker
January 23, 5:00pm CST | Pick-Staiger Concert Hall,50 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston, \
Sherrilyn Ifill served as the seventh President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) from 2013 to 2022, and currently serves as President and Director-Counsel Emeritus. Ifill, the second woman to ever lead LDF, provided visionary and transformational leadership during one of the most consequential and intense moments in our nation’s history. She began her career as a Fellow at the American Civil Liberties Union, before joining the staff of the LDF as an Assistant Counsel in 1988, where she litigated voting rights cases for five years. Event is free and open to the public.
Registration required
Sponsored by: MLK Commemoration Dream Week Committee
Racial-Ethnic Hiring Discrimination and Labor Market
January 23, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM | Chambers Hall, Ruan Conf. Room (lower level), 600 Foster St, Evanston
Lincoln Quillian, Professor of Sociology, IPR Fellow, and Chair of IPR's Program on Urban Policy and Community Development will talk about Racial-Ethnic Hiring Discrimination and Labor Market Conditions. This colloquium is part of the Fay Lomax Cook Monday Winter 2023 Colloquium Series.
Sponsored by: Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern (IPR)
FACTOTUM: Behind the Scenes with creators Will Liverman and DJ King Rico
January 24, Reception at 6:30 p.m., Conversation begins at 7 p.m., | Wirtz Theater, Room 203, Abbott Hall, 710 N. Lakeshore Dr., Chicago Campus.
Join us for a candid conversation with Grammy-nominated Baritone Will Liverman (FIRE SHUT UP IN MY BONES) and Producer/DJ and multi-instrumentalist DJ King Rico, to talk about the creation of their opera, THE FACTOTUM, which will run February 3 – 12th at the Harris Theater. This new work commissioned by Lyric is inspired by Rossini’s Barber of Seville and has grown into a joyful, original piece all its own. Set in a barber shop on the South Side of Chicago, The Factotum blends diverse musical styles with boundless imagination to create a soul opera, moving from gospel and funk to rap, hip-hop, classic barbershop quartet, and R&B. Sponsored by: Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts, Virginia Wadsworth, Lyric Opera of Chicago, School of Communication and Black Arts Consortium.
Free event: registration required.
How the Word is Passed: Online Collection Talk
January 26, 12:30-1:00 pm | Online
Join Block Museum Academic Curator Corinne Granof for a talk considering works from the Block’s collection that reckon with the history of slavery, white supremacy, symbols of nationhood, and social inequity.
Sponsored by: Block Museum
Screening: Punch 9 for Harold Washington
An epic story of American politics, race, and triumph against all odds, that chronicles the captivating rise, surprising reign, and enduring legacy of Chicago’s first Black Mayor, Harold Washington. In one of the dirtiest political campaigns in American history, in a city rife with corruption and discrimination, Harold Washington took on the machine and won. “Punch 9” features candid interviews with Rev. Jesse Jackson, Vice Mayor Richard Mell, Valarie Jarrett, David Axelrod, and others on the front lines and in the backrooms of power as it follows the charismatic politician’s shrewd maneuverings, stinging betrayals, and unlikely victories.
RSVP suggested. The event is free.
Nikole Hannah Jones: The 1619 Project Hulu docuseries on-line
January 26 | Online, HULU docuseries
When we come to terms with the legacy of slavery and the way it still impacts us today, we gain a fuller understanding of our history—and become better equipped to fight for a fairer future. This eagerly awaited Hulu docuseries is based on The 1619 Project, the phenomenal #1 New York Times bestseller. Its creator, Nikole Hannah-Jones, is the winner of a Pulitzer Prize, the recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Grant, and Grant and is among TIME’s 100 most influential people in the world.
Sponsored by: HULU
"Raising the Floor" Film Screening
January 31, 6:00pm | Trienens Forum, Kresge Hall #1-515
Film screening, followed by a conversation moderated by Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss with filmmaker Sabrina Avilés. Evanston recently announced the beginning of a Guaranteed Income Porgram in our city, so come and learn how similar initiatives have worked elsewhere.
RSVP to Julie Lavin (julie.lavin@northwestern.edu)
Sponsored by: American Studies Program
"Pre-Civil War Quilts: Secret Codes to Freedom on the Underground Railroad
February 2, 7:00pm | Evanston History Center (225 Greenwood Street), under the buffalo in the great hall
Drawing from her own family history, Martin will tell of her enslaved relatives, who were captured in West Africa and survived the Middle Passage. Martin's presentation highlights her family's stories of secrecy, codes, and fugitive slave escape routes from South to North, which was revealed in an information-packed family Bible found dated 1865. Martin's historical presentation is a multi-media experience including a PowerPoint slide presentation, storytelling, and display of over a dozen beautifully hand-crafted quilt replicas, each sewn by Connie's mother, especially for this presentation, representing patterns and special stitching used over 300 years ago by abolitionists and fugitive slaves to signify escape routes to the North.
Join us in person, for the first time since 2020, under the buffalo in the great hall at the Evanston History Center for a multi-media presentation by Connie Martin.
RSVP required. $10 admission, free for EHC members
History of Racism in U.S. Health Care: Root Causes of Today's Hierarchy and Systems of Power
February 7, 1:00 PM | Virtual
Register for the inaugural event in the National Health Equity Grand Rounds series, History of Racism in U.S. Healthcare: Root Causes of Today’s Hierarchy and Systems of Power. This event will highlight the root causes of present-day health inequities by tracing the social, economic, political, geographic, and environmental forces that shape opportunity for health in the United States. Keynote speaker Harriet A. Washington, MA, author of Medical Apartheid, will explore the history of structural inequities in health care and unethical medical experimentation followed by a panel conversation moderated by American Medical Association (AMA) Chief Health Equity Officer Aletha Maybank, MD, MPH, and featuring Rupa Marya, MD; David Ansell, MD, MPH; and Jack Resneck, Jr., MD.
The event will livestream on the website www.healthequitygrandrounds.com starting at 2:00 pm EST on February 7, 2023. Register here.
Race, Culture, and the Digital Revolution
February 16, 5:30pm – 7:00pm | McCormick Foundation Center Forum
Join Danielle Cadet ’10, ‘11 MSJ, Executive Editor and Vice President of Content at Essence Magazine, and Dr. Marcus Collins, author of the forthcoming book For the Culture: The Power Behind What We Buy, What We Do, and Who We Want to Be, as they talk about how social media has shaped modern narratives about the Black experience and provided new outlets and insights for storytellers in media, journalism, and marketing.
Sponsored by: Medill
VIOLET
February 17-26 | Ethel M. Barber Theater, 30 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston.
As a girl, Violet was struck by a wayward axe blade when her father was chopping wood, leaving her with a visible scar across her face. With enough money finally saved, she’s traveling across the Deep South in 1964 towards a miracle – the healing touch of a TV evangelist who will make her beautiful. Along the way, a chance encounter with a young Black soldier forces Violet to confront the ugliness of racism and the possibility for true transformation and self-acceptance.
Winner of the Drama Critics’ Circle Award and Lucille Lortel Award for Best Musical when it premiered Off-Broadway in 1997, and then on to a Tony-nominated Broadway debut in 2014 with a revised version, Violet is a moving musical featuring show-stopping score from Tony-winning composer Jeanine Tesori (Caroline, or Change; Thoroughly Modern Millie; Shrek; Fun Home).
For more information and to purchase tickets: https://wirtz.northwestern.edu/violet/
Sponsored by: Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts, Virginia Wadsworth
Screening and Panel Discussion of The Big Payback
February 23, 4:00-6:30 | McCormick Foundation Center Forum
“The Big Payback,” an award-winning documentary film about Evanston’s local reparations movement. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with Alderman Robin Rue Simmons, the principal author of Evanston’s reparations ordinance, and the documentary film makers Erika Alexander and Whitney Dow.
Sponsored by: Provost’s Office, the Center for the Study of Diversity and Democracy, the Medill School of Journalism, and the School of Communications
Hidden in Plain Sight: The role of archaeology in mapping a plantation’s multiple pasts
February 23, 5:30-7:00pm | Dittmar Gallery in Norris
Please join us for a dinner and presentation with Archaeology Professor Mark Hauser. He will talk about how archaeologists examine plantation landscapes and what an examination of those landscapes can provide in understanding the challenges enslaved laborers faced. Relying on a combination of archaeological finds and documentary evidence from multiple sites across the Caribbean, he will map how space was deployed by planters to limit the agency of enslaved planters, creating not only fields of power but also blind spots in their points of view. Relying on archaeological evidence recovered from house yards, he counters maps those landscapes by showing how enslaved laborers built social and commercial ties within and beyond the plantation boundaries that putatively defined their lives.
Space is limited. Registration is required.
McGaw Medical Center: Health Equity Week 2023
February 27 – March 3 | In-person and virtual
Join us for this unique hybrid educational opportunity. Through a carefully curated series of moderated sessions on a variety of topics, thought leaders and scholars from within and outside Northwestern will share insights into the roots of healthcare disparities and will facilitate discussions that inform and inspire innovative solutions.
For event details and speaker information, please visit our website.
The Afterlives of Coral or The Persistence of Colonial Violence
February 28, 12:30-2:00 | Crowe 1132
Please join us for this talk by Ayana Flewellen of Stanford University. This presentation looks at three distinctive encounters with the colonial past mediated through coral, demonstrating the varied ways this organic material ruptures time and demands us to tend to the persistence of colonial violence. Lunch provided.
Sponsored by: Department of Anthropology
“Reflections on the Black Public Humanities Projects and their Impact on Scholarship”
March 3, 3:00 PM | Fisk Hall (room 311)
The broad thrust of the panel is meant to showcase graduate students who are engaged in such work in the process of reflecting upon the impact that our experiences have had on our approach to scholarly designs. The panel includes: Sherwin Bryant, Emily Schwalbe, Christopher Montague, Charlene Carruthers, and Dandara Souza. The panel will be moderated by Professor Kennetta Hammond Perry.
Sponsored by: ACLS and the Department of African American Studies
BAC Speaker/Performer Series: Cristal Chanelle Truscott
March 8, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM | Abbott Hall, 1802, 710 N. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago,
Join us for a noontime works-in-progress talk by Professor Cristal Chanelle Truscott! Cristal Chanelle Truscott, PhD is a culture worker, scholar, educator, playwright, director, founder of the touring ensemble Progress Theatre, and creator of “SoulWork” – a generative method for making performance, training artists, engaging communities and framing analytical research that is rooted in generations-old African American cultural practices, theories and performance traditions.
See here details.
Fall Recurring
Being Bipolar in a Polarized World, An Exhibit by Artist Kelly Mathews
Sept. 16 - Oct. 20 | Dittmar Gallery, Norris University Center
More info here.
This exhibit created by Chicago artist Kelly Mathews, exemplifies how the personal is political within the context of art. Having been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, after years of destructive behavior, Mathews understands the meaning of the “edge” and often steps close to it when creating art, resulting in bold and fearless work.
Sponsored by: Dittmar Gallery
The Story of Ka Makana o' ka, An Exhibit by Trotter Alexander
Oct. 27 - Dec. 7 | Dittmar Gallery, Norris University Center
The Story of Ka Makana o’ ka is an exhibit about a boy from Chicago going into a new world of Hawaii, experiencing numerous different lifestyles, vegetation, and people. Artist Trotter Alexander’s works addresses topics such as drug use, depression, infatuation, self-hate/love, racial identity, existentialism, and insanity.
Sponsored by: Dittmar Gallery
Freedom for Everyone: Slavery and Abolition in 19th Century America
Fall Qtr | Deering Library, lobby
More info here.
Juneteenth marks a momentous celebration — the end of American slavery — but it was not the end of the story about Black Americans’ struggle for freedom and equality.
Sponsored by: Deering Library
One Book One Northwestern 2022–23: How the Word Is Passed
2022 - 23 Academic Year | Block Museum of Art online gallery.
This selection of artworks from The Block’s collection adds to the conversation by highlighting artists who use different strategies to reckon with the history of slavery, white supremacy, symbols of nationhood, and social inequity.
Sponsored by: The Block Museum of Art
Fall Quarter
Gallery Talk: How the Word is Passed
Oct. 8 | 11:00 AM | Block Museum of Art
RSVP here.
Join Block Museum curator Janet Dees for a gallery talk closely considering two works from the Block’s collection that explore the legacy of slavery. Dees is the Steven and Lisa Munster Tananbaum Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at The Block Museum of Art, and curator of Winter–Spring 2022 Block exhibition A Site of Struggle: American Art against Anti-Black Violence.
Sponsored by: The Block Museum of Art
Performance: Mendi + Keith Obadike — Numbers Station 2 [Red Record]
Oct. 8 | 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM | Wirtz Center for Performing Arts
RSVP here.
In this piece, artists Mendi + Keith Obadike sonify data from Ida B. Wells’ 1895 publication, The Red Record: Tabulated Statistics and Alleged Causes of Lynching in the United States, with chants and sounds generated from the dates of lynching contained in Wells’ text.
Sponsored by: The Block Museum of Art
Beyoncé Mass
Oct. 9 | 5:00 PM | Cahn Auditorium
RSVP here.
The “Beyoncé Mass,” a groundbreaking Christian worship service, features Beyonce’s music that celebrates the spirituality of Black women. Created and curated by Rev. Yolanda Norton, the worship service uses the music and life of Beyoncé as a tool to cultivate an empowering conversation about Black women and create an experience of story, scripture, and song that calls for the liberation of all people.
Sponsored by: Religious & Spiritual Life
Gays and Gospel
Oct. 11 | 7:00 PM | Alice Millar Chapel
Dean E. Patrick Johnson and Assistant Professor of Instruction, Kent R. Brooks take audiences on a journey from gospel music’s roots to the contemporary moment, acknowledging how Black queer artists helped shape a musical genre that transformed the world.
Sponsored by: Religious & Spiritual Life
Northwestern Day at the Art Institute
Oct 14. | 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM | 111 S Michigan Ave Chicago, IL
More info here.
Northwestern students, faculty, staff, and their guests enjoy free admission to the Art Institute. More information about Northwestern’s museum partnerships available in the ‘students’ section of the SOA website.
Sponsored by: Student Organizations & Activities
Author Clint Smith in conversation with History Professor Leslie Harris
Oct. 18 | 12:15 PM - 1:15 PM | Lurie, 303 E. Superior St., Hughes Auditorium, Lurie 1-133
Oct. 18 | 5:00 PM | Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall, 70 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston
Register for the Chicago event here, and the Evanston event here.
Please join us on the Chicago and Evanston campuses for the One Book keynote with Clint Smith author of How the Word is Passed. He will be joined in conversation with One Book faculty chair and History professor Leslie Harris.
Sponsored by: One Book One Northwestern
Social Justice Tour of Northwestern University
Oct. 20 | 3:30 PM | The Weber Arch
Meet in front of Weber Arch.
Join us for a live sample selection from three existing GPS-guided audio walking tours: The Indigenous, Black Experience, and Feminist Campus tours.
Sponsored by: Native American and Indigenous Affairs, University Libraries, and the Women’s Center
Remembering Illinois’s Early Black History
Oct. 20 | 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM | Dittmar Gallery
Reigster here.
History professor Kate Masur will discuss the little-known history of African Americans in Illinois in the 1840s-1860s, highlighting the work of the Northwestern-based team that developed the website: Black Organizing in Pre-Civil War Illinois: Creating Community, Demanding Justice. Space is limited, pre-registration is required.
Sponsored by: One Book One Northwestern and Dittmar Gallery
Civic Love: An Interfaith Conversation about Racial Equity in Evanston
Oct. 25 | 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM | Parkes Hall 122
This program features snacks, community building, and an opportunity to learn from local leaders doing justice and equity work grounded in spirituality. Students of all backgrounds and identities are invited to this inclusive space.
Sponsored by: Northwestern Leadership Development & Community Engagement and Religious & Spiritual Life
Kelvin Haizel (BAC Artist-in-Residence) Artist Talk
Oct. 28 | 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM | University Hall 201
Please join us for a presentation by Kelvin Haizel, one of the BAC’s 2022 Artists-in-Residence. A photographer from Ghana, Kelvin will discuss his practice and recent work about cartography and photography in representing Africa. Please don’t hesitate to reach out at bac@northwestern.edu should you have any questions.
Sponsored by: Black Arts Consortium
An Evening with Universes
Oct. 28 | 7:00 PM | Abbott Hall, Downtown campus
Writers and performers Steven Sapp and Mildred Ruiz-Sapp, founders of the award-winning theatre company Universes, fuse poetry, theatre, music and dance to tell stories of struggle, resistance, and the power of collective action.
Sponsored by: School of Communication
Understanding the Historic Evanston Black Community
Oct. 29 | 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Registration required, sign up here
This tour will showcase the history and movement of the Black community in Evanston from 1900 to present day to reveal a pattern that resembles what we have seen in the greater historical narrative that has affected the Evanston community we know today.
Sponsored by: One Book One Northwestern
Sand Creek Massacre Commemoration
In the spirit of healing, the Native American and Indigenous Student Alliance (NAISA), Multicultural Students Affairs (MSA), Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion (OIDI), and the Center for Native American and Indigenous Research (CNAIR) invites our community to reflect on Northwestern's role in supporting the healing efforts of Cheyenne and Arapaho communities.
This is a 3-part series to learn about the massacre and Northwestern’s place in this history. These events are free and open to the campus community. Join us in one or all three events. See the three Sand Creek Massacre Commemoration events below.
A Conversation with Linda Villarosa, Author of Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism in American Lives and on the Health of Our Nation
Nov. 1 | 12:15 PM - 2:00 PM | Robert H. Lurie Medical Research Center, Hughes Auditorium
Register here.
Author Linda Villarosa will be in conversation with Melissa Simon, MD, MPH, about her new book release. The discussion will focus on the intersection of race and health and its impact on American lives.
Sponsored by: Center for Health Equity Transformation (CHET) and Office of Diversity & Inclusion
Have Confidence in the Sea: Archaeologies of Marronage
Nov. 1 | 12:30 PM | Crowe Hall 1-132
In this talk, Assistant Professor of Anthropology Justin Dunnavant discusses how archaeology has contributed to our understanding of marronage in the Atlantic world.
Sponsored by: Latin American and Caribbean Studies
The Renberg Forum presents Linda Villarosa and Steven Thrasher in Conversation with Dean Charles Whittaker
Nov. 1 | 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM | McCormick Foundation Forum
The authors of the recent books Under the Skin and The Viral Underclass talk about covering HIV, Covid-19, race and LGBTQ health.
Sponsored by: Medill School of Journalism
Contemplative Care for Racial Justice Educators: Tending to the Body, Heart, and Mind
Nov. 2 | 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM | Online
Register here.
Processing the visceral content and reverberating implications of NU’s common read, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning of Slavery Across America, can be challenging on psychosomatic levels. We invite racial justice educators to come together as a community to engage in contemplative mind-body practices and to explore trauma-informed pedagogical perspectives that can restore bandwidth and empower learning. This two-part workshop series will center bodily awareness, evidence-informed practices, and social connection, which are powerful tools for sustaining our personal and collective efforts towards racial justice both inside and outside of the classroom.
Sponsored by the Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching; Facilitated by Veronica Womack, Associate Director of Inclusive Learning Communities, and Jennifer Keys, Senior Director; and Inspired by Resmaa Menakem’s (2021) "My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies"
Accounting for Slavery: a history of management practices
Nov. 2 | 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM | Kellogg Global Hub, White Auditorium
Caitlin Rosenthal (UC Berkeley), will give remarks about her book Accounting for Slavery: Masters and Management, which shows how the development of modern management and accounting practices find their origins in slavery. These remarks will be followed by a conversation between Dr. Rosenthal and faculty member Dr. Ivy Onyeador from Kellogg’s Management and Organizations Department, a question and answer session with the audience, and a reception with the speaker and the audience members.
Sponsored by: Kellogg Management and Organizations, Dispute Resolution Resource Center, History Department, Economics Department
“Freedom for Everyone: Slavery & Abolition in 19th Century America,” Exhibit Lecture
Nov. 2 | 5:00 PM | Deering Library room 208
Register here.
Join the Library staff and PhD student curator Marquis Taylor in a discussion of its exhibition “Freedom for Everyone: Slavery & Abolition in 19th Century America,” currently on view in the Deering lobby.
Sponsored by: Northwestern University Libraries
Sand Creek Massacre Commemoration - Film Screening and Discussion
Nov. 3 | 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM | Pick-Laudati
RSVP here.
In this first of three part commemoration series, we will be viewing Only the Mountains, a 12-minute film about Sand Creek commissioned by Northwestern, followed by facilitated discussion by Medill Professors Reynaldo A. Morales Cardenas and Patty Loew.
Until the Flood by Dael Orlandersmith, directed by Neel Keller
Nov. 3 | 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM | Wirtz Center for Performing Arts, Wirtz 201 — the Clare, Lu 'n' Em Theater
Register here.
Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts will host a screening of Until the Flood, written and performed by Pulitzer Prize finalist and celebrated performer Dael Orlandersmith in a Rattlestick Theatre Production.The screening will be followed by a conversation with Dael Orlandersmith.
Sponsored by: School of Communication
Sand Creek Massacre Commemoration - Indigenous Art Making
Nov. 10 | 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM | Deering Library, Room 208
RSVP here.
We will be making tobacco ties, painted birch bark pins, and a banner that will be used for the Procession planned for November 17, 2022.
The Allison Davis Lecture: Professor Joy James presents “In Pursuit of Revolutionary Love
Nov. 10 | 5:00 PM | Guild Lounge
U.S. law and society—born of slavery and continued through predatory politics and democracy—create subjects who are captive but also poised to rupture the continuum. In this talk, Dr. James asks the question: What if the most hopeful people are those without hope in the system? Through that unfounded hope and a politics of revolutionary love, they are the ones who may breach the system, and leave a trail to follow.
Sponsored by: Department of African American Studies
"Bicentennial Black: Diana Ross, Black History, and the Spirit of 1976": a talk by Scott Poulson-Bryant (Univ. of Michigan)
Nov. 11 | 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM | University Hall 201
Join the Black Arts Consortium for a talk by author and music scholar Scott Poulson-Bryant. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to bac@northwestern.edu should you have any questions.
Sponsored by: Black Arts Consortium
Earthseed Family Archive Project
Nov. 15 | 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM | Virtual
This Earthseed Showcase is an offering from members of the Earthseed Black Family Archive Project, a national cohort of black changemakers and cultural workers who spent a year delving into their collective and family history. Join Earthseed founder and 2021-2022 Women’s Center Feminist in Residence Fellow JeShawna Wholley, and members of the 2021-2022 cohort, for a screening of showcase shorts and conversation with the artists who created them.
Sponsored by: One Book One Northwestern, The Women’s Center, History department, Department of African American Studies
Civic Love: An Interfaith Conversation about Housing & Hunger in Evanston
Nov. 15 | 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM | Parkes Hall 122
This program features snacks, community building, and an opportunity to learn from local leaders doing justice and equity work grounded in spirituality. Students of all faith traditions and secular backgrounds are invited to this inclusive space.
Sponsored by: Northwestern Leadership Development & Community Engagement and Religious & Spiritual Life
"Let the Little Light Shine" Film Screening and Director Discussion
The American Studies Program will screen an exciting new documentary, “Let the Little Light Shine.” You are cordially invited to view the film and meet the director for a post-screening discussion. This event is hosted by Professor Kevin Boyle (History).
The film tells the story of the grassroots campaign to save a South Loop K-8 school with an overwhelmingly Black student body from the forces of gentrification. “Let the Little Light Shine” is a “propulsive” film, says the LA Times. The Guardian calls it “riveting.” And the Chicago Tribune reports that at its premier earlier this year “it tore the roof clean off three different theaters.” The filmmaker, Kevin Shaw, will be joining us for a post-screening discussion.
Sponsored by: Northwestern American Studies Program
Sand Creek Massacre Commemoration - Procession & Fire
Nov. 17 | 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM | Evans Alumni Center
RSVP here.
Meet in front of the John Evans Alumni Center (1800 Sheridan Road) for remarks and then head 300ft west down Clark St to meet the group outside of the Center for Native American and Indigenous Research House (515 Clark Street).
We will walk about 0.7 miles and end at the CNAIR house at 515 Clark Street for a fire, reflection, and warm drinks. Weather can be unpredictable during this time of year, so please plan accordingly. There are no stairs along the walking route, and it follows a paved concrete path, however, the route ends on a lawn with grass and some uneven ground.
Sponsored by: Center for Native American and Indigenous Research
"Exhibiting Blackness: Anthropology, Museums, and the Persistent Western Imagination": a talk by Monique R. Scott
Dec. 2 | 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM | University Hall 201
Join us for a talk by curator, anthropologist, and scholar Monique R. Scott. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to bac@northwestern.edu should you have any questions.
Sponsored by: Black Arts Consortium
Winter Quarter
Photo Contest Deadline
Jan. 13 | Submit here.
Submit an image of a monument or memorial—statues, plaques, markers, and place names that commemorate people and events in your community—with a short paragraph that answers these questions: Why is it important, when was it created and who decided to commemorate the person, place, or thing? The image should inspire, enlighten, or awe the audience. Only undergraduate and graduate students may participate.
Sponsored by: One Book One Northwestern